Welcome to the world of digital marketing, where the ability to understand and effectively use an array of digital marketing strategies and tactics determines your overall success. As the world becomes increasingly digital, understanding the following digital marketing terms and concepts that underpin the industry is more critical than ever.
This post provides a comprehensive list of essential digital marketing terms and meanings. From SEO to PPC to social media marketing, we’ll cover everything you need to know to become a confident and effective digital marketer or expand your current knowledge base.
Whether you’re just starting in the industry or looking to brush up on your skills, this post provides a foundation of knowledge you can build upon as you continue to grow and evolve as a marketer. So, without further ado, let’s dive in and explore the world of digital marketing together.
Digital Marketing Terms: #
301 Redirect
A 301 redirect is a permanent server-side redirect that indicates the original URL has permanently moved to a new location. When a user or search engine encounters a 301 redirect, they are automatically taken to the new URL. From an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) perspective, a 301 redirect also transfers most of the link equity (or authority) from the old URL to the new one, making it an essential tool for maintaining search rankings when changing the structure or domain of a website.
302 Redirect
A 302 redirect is a temporary server-side redirect, signaling that the move of the original URL to the new location is not permanent. When encountered, users and search engines are taken to the new URL for that specific instance. However, because it’s temporary, search engines typically continue to index the original URL and don’t transfer the link equity to the new URL.
307 Temporary Redirect
A 307 redirect is similar to a 302 in that it’s a temporary redirect. The difference is that a 307 is specifically HTTP/1.1 compliant, meaning it adheres to the newer HTTP protocol version. A 307 redirect also ensures that the method and the body of the original request are preserved when redirected, which is not guaranteed in a 302 redirect.
404 Page Not Found
A 404 status code indicates that the server couldn’t find the requested URL. In other words, the page doesn’t exist. It’s common for users to encounter a 404 error when they click on a broken link or type in a web address that doesn’t exist. Websites often customize their 404 pages to provide helpful information, guide users back to the homepage, or offer alternative resources.
410 Content Deleted
A 410 status code indicates that a resource on the server was purposely removed and is no longer available. Unlike the 404 status code, which suggests the page might be missing due to an error or temporary issue, the 410 code conveys a more permanent removal. From an SEO perspective, search engines interpret this status as an instruction to de-index the page.
451 Unavailable for Legal Reasons
A 451 status code signals that access to the content is restricted due to legal reasons, such as government-imposed censorship or court orders. This status code was inspired by the novel “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury, where books are outlawed. When a user or search engine encounters a 451 status, it means they can’t access the content for legal constraints.
Digital Marketing Terms: A
A/B Testing
A/B testing, also known as split testing, compares two versions of a webpage, advertisement, or other digital content against each other to determine which one performs better in terms of a specified metric (e.g., conversion rate). The two versions (A and B) are shown to users at random, and statistical analysis is used to determine which version is more effective for achieving a specific goal.
Ad Extensions
Ad extensions are additional information that can be added to Google Ads (and other platforms’) advertisements. They enhance the basic ad by providing extra details or links. Examples of ad extensions include location information, phone numbers, additional site links, and user reviews. They can increase the visibility and relevance of an ad, potentially improving click-through rates.
Alt Text (or Alternate Text)
Alt text, short for “alternative text”, is a text description that can be added to an image’s HTML tag on a webpage. This description provides context for the image, making it accessible to individuals using screen readers (due to visual impairments) and providing a description if the image fails to load. Additionally, alt text can help search engines understand the content of an image, aiding in SEO efforts.
Anchor Text
Anchor text refers to the clickable words used in a hyperlink. It often stands out from the rest of the text, usually being underlined or colored differently. The choice of anchor text can influence the ranking of a site in search engine results, especially if the anchor text contains keywords relevant to the linked page.
Attribution Models
Attribution models are frameworks used by marketers to determine how credit for conversions (such as sales or leads) should be distributed across different touchpoints in a customer’s journey. For instance, if a user interacts with a brand through an advertisement, an email, and then a social media post before making a purchase, an attribution model helps determine how much credit each of these touchpoints should receive for the conversion. Common models include “first click”, “last click”, “linear”, and “time decay”, among others.
Automation
In the context of digital marketing, automation refers to the use of software or technology to perform repetitive tasks, processes, or campaigns without manual intervention. This can include tasks like sending out scheduled emails, posting content on social media, or segmenting customers for targeted advertising. Automation can streamline operations, increase efficiency, and ensure consistency in marketing efforts.
Average Position
In the context of digital advertising, the average position referred to the typical placement of an advertisement on a search engine results page (SERP). For instance, an average position of 1 meant the ad usually appeared as the first ad on the page. It’s important to note that Google Ads retired the “average position” metric in September 2019, replacing it with “search top impression rate” and “search absolute top impression rate” to give advertisers a clearer view of their ad’s placement.
Digital Marketing Terms: B
Business-to-Business (B2B) Digital Marketing
B2B digital marketing refers to online marketing efforts and strategies specifically targeted toward businesses and organizations rather than individual consumers. This includes promoting products, services, or solutions that are typically sold to other businesses. Examples might include software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms, industrial machinery, or professional services.
Business-to-Consumer (B2C) Digital Marketing
B2C digital marketing targets individual consumers, promoting products or services that individuals purchase for personal use. This can encompass a vast array of industries, from fashion and electronics to travel and entertainment. B2C marketing strategies are often designed to appeal to a wider audience and may focus on emotions, benefits, and personal relevance.
Backlink
A backlink, often simply referred to as a “link”, is a hyperlink from one website to another. Backlinks are vital for SEO because they can signify trust, authority, and relevance to search engines. When a trusted site links to another site, it can be seen as a vote of confidence, potentially boosting the linked site’s ranking in search engine results.
Bing Advertising
Bing Advertising, now known as Microsoft Advertising, is the platform used for placing ads on Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, and its partner networks. Similar to Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising allows advertisers to bid on keywords and display ads in Bing search results and other properties.
Bing Webmaster Tools
Bing Webmaster Tools is a free service from Bing that allows website owners to monitor and maintain their site’s presence in Bing search results. It provides data on website performance, search traffic, and indexing, and offers tools for diagnostic analysis and optimization.
Black Hat SEO
Black Hat SEO refers to aggressive SEO strategies and tactics that violate search engine guidelines. The term “black hat” originates from old Western movies where villains typically wore black hats. Techniques under this category aim to trick search engines into awarding higher rankings than deserved. Examples include keyword stuffing, cloaking, and using private link networks. Websites caught using black hat techniques can face penalties, including removal from search engine results.
Bounce Rate
Your bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who leave a website after viewing only one page. It’s a metric used to measure the effectiveness of a website in engaging visitors. A high bounce rate can indicate that visitors are not finding what they are looking for or are not interested in the content. On the other hand, a low bounce rate generally indicates that visitors are engaged and interested in exploring more of the website. However, the interpretation of bounce rate should be considered in the context of the website’s purpose and type of content.
Brand Awareness
Brand awareness refers to the extent of customer awareness (recognition and recall) of a brand and its products and/or services. The degree of brand awareness for a brand and its products is developed via an array of advertising methods. Brand awareness is an essential component of business marketing since it measures the ability of consumers to recall a brand. Furthermore, brand awareness is a primary consideration in the realm of consumer behavior, advertising management, brand management, and strategy development. Consumers will likely not purchase unless they are aware of the brand and/or product.
Brand Equity
Brand equity equates to the value of a brand’s name. The essence of brand equity is the level of sway a brand name has in the minds of consumers. Established brands typically generate more business and lesser-known brands tend to generate less business. Furthermore, consumers often associate quality with brand equity, such that consumers tend to trust household names over unknown brands.
Brand Loyalty
Brand loyalty has to do with consumers who have a positive view of a brand and exhibit commitment to a brand. It is a relationship between consumers who are loyal to a brand, product, or business, regardless of what the competition does. Consumers display their loyalty in different ways, such as purchasing a brand’s products on a regular basis and providing positive word-of-mouth advocacy.
Buyer Persona
A buyer persona is a semi-fictional character that marketers used to represent different buyer types and scenarios. Marketers develop these characters from intense market research and real data gathered from existing customers and leads. Buyer personas typically represent real consumers and customers that could potentially visit your site, purchase or use your product, etc. Marketers often combine personas with market segmentation. Marketers create qualitative personas to represent specific segments. You can also create negative buyer personas to describe consumers and customers that markets wish to avoid.
Digital Marketing Terms: C
Call-to-Action (CTA)
A call-to-action is designed to prompt a response from consumers. Marketers use CTAs to encourage consumers to take immediate action towards purchasing their goods and/or services.
Campaigns
Campaigns include various types of advertising such as PPC and content marketing. Marketers strategically plan marketing campaigns to engage with consumers, convert sales, drive inbound traffic, and increase revenue. Marketers use campaigns to reach their goals and employ one (or more) digital marketing channels to reach said goals.
Canonical Element
A canonical element references an HTML element that webmasters use to prevent duplicate content. The code RFC 6596 is added to the HTML head of a webpage. This code alerts Google crawlers of duplicate page content. The canonical (or preferred) version of a webpage is the original content of the page and is specified as part of SEO credit to the webmaster. Duplicate content should point to the canonical to the source URL. This provides SEO credit to the original source or webmaster.
Channels
Channels refer to the digital advertising sources that marketers employ like search engines, websites, mobile apps, email, social media, etc. Digital technologies such as the internet are used to market goods and services. Digital marketing channels allow marketers to target audiences, build brand awareness, and increase their sales.
Chatbot
A computer program designed to engage with site visitors via auditory or text-based methods. A chatbot is also known as a chatterbot, chatbot, and Artificial Conversational Entity. Chatbots hold conversations with humans via various means such as webpage chat windows. The primary purpose of chatbots is to provide consumers with immediate customer service.
These programs are designed to simulate human behavior. These systems are both sophisticated and simple at the same time. The sophisticated nature is due to the system’s ability to process natural language and the simple element is tied to how the system scans for keyword input, which, in turn, allows it to provide database replies relevant to keyword input.
Click Maps
A click map is a graphical representation of user clicks on a website. Let’s take a digital marketing e-commerce site that provides software and services and the site’s products and service pages are organized. Your click map will track user activity from images, text, buttons, and page elements that visitors click on across each page.
You can use any one of a multitude of tools to generate a click map – one of my favorites is Hot Jar. Click maps provide marketers with valuable information, such as an easy-to-read interpretation and analysis of site-wide tracking data. The displayed data format will vary depending on the tools used to generate the click map, but heat maps are the most common format.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Your click-through rate is the number of consumers that actively click on an ad upon viewing it. You can calculate your CTR by dividing the number of ad clicks by the total number of views. Your CTR is designed to gauge the effectiveness of ads. The higher your CTR, the better.
Competitive Analysis
Competitive analysis is the analysis of a business and its position within its competitive environment. In the digital marketing realm, competitive analysis involves the analysis of online competitors. This analysis incorporates competitor strengths and weaknesses, as well as internal strengths and weaknesses. Demographics and consumer marketplace desires, marketplace business strategies for improvement, obstructing barriers that limit the marketer or business from entering new markets, and deterrents that prevent competitors from destroying the business’s current foothold all contribute to an effective competitive analysis.
Content Marketing
Content marketing involves the creation and distribution of online materials. A few examples include blog posts, videos, and social media posts. Content marketing is designed to provide users with information. That being said, make sure you don’t abuse it by only promoting your brand!
Content Upgrade
A content upgrade refers to some sort of bonus content you provide consumers in exchange for their email address. Content upgrades are unique in that the purpose of collecting email is not to develop an email list. Rather, the email addresses are used to distribute information provided via the site and specific to a topic per the request of the email addresses’ owner.
This metric refers to the percentage of website visitors that complete a transaction on your site. The transaction is determined by the marketer’s predefined goal(s). A predefined goal can include a sale conversion or a visitor’s request for additional information for example. The calculation is simple, all you need to do is divide the number of successful conversions by the total number of website visitors.
Cost Per Click (CPC)
Cost per Click (CPC) is the dollar value a marketer spends for a pay-per-click campaign. Pay-per-click ads are displayed across search engine providers such as Google and Bing. Google Ads and Bing Advertising require marketers to bid on keywords and keyword phrases. Each keyword and keyword phrase has a cost associated with it that fluctuates based on popularity, timing, and a number of other factors.
Cost Per Thousand (CPM)
Cost per Thousand (CPM) is the digital marketing equivalent of the Roman numeral for 1,000. Marketers use CPM to measure the cost of an online advertisement per 1,000 impressions. Impressions are the number of times an ad appears on a webpage. Marketers can use CPM to bid on a keyword or keyphrase.
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) involves the digital marketing branch where the goal is to increase the conversion rate of a webpage. In most cases, the higher the conversion rate, the more profitable the page. Marketers use an array of strategies to dominate in this department. Marketers also typically combine consumer psychology and web design to increase their conversion rates. One of the most common ways to improve the CRO of a webpage is to conduct an A/B test and see which version tests better.
Crawler
A “crawler” (or “spider,” “bot”) is a tool that search engines use to visit and collect data from websites. This process, known as “crawling,” helps index websites in search engine databases, crucial for appearing in search results. Crawlers assist in understanding website structure and content, which are vital for search engine rankings. Digital marketers use crawler data for search engine optimization (SEO) and competitive analysis, optimizing websites for better online visibility.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
A business metric marketers use to measure the cost incurred to acquire a new customer, including marketing, advertising, and sales costs. To calculate CAC, divide the total acquisition costs by the number of new customers gained in that period. This metric is essential for evaluating the efficiency of marketing and sales strategies and is often compared with a customer’s Lifetime Value (LTV) to assess long-term profitability. A lower CAC indicates more efficient customer acquisition.
Customer Experience
Customer experience refers to the quality of the relationship between an organization and a customer through the interactions between the two parties. There are three main components to a customer’s experience: the customer journey, the interactions between the customer and the business, and the customer’s environmental experience. A positive customer experience occurs when a customer is overall satisfied with their interactions with the business.
Customer Lifecycle
The Customer Lifecycle outlines the stages a customer goes through in their relationship with a brand. It includes:
- Awareness: Customers first learn about the brand or product.
- Consideration: Customers evaluate the brand as a potential solution.
- Purchase: The customer buys the product or service.
- Retention: Efforts are made to satisfy the customer and encourage repeat business.
- Advocacy: Satisfied customers recommend the brand to others.
This model helps businesses strategize to attract, engage, and retain customers, ultimately building long-term relationships and maximizing customer lifetime value.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
Customer lifetime value (CLV) is a measure of the total income a business can expect to bring in from a typical customer for as long as that person or account remains a client. When measuring CLV, it’s best to look at the total average revenue generated by a customer and the total average profit. Each provides important insights into how customers interact with your business and if your overall marketing plan is working as expected.
Customer Pain Point
A customer pain point is a specific problem that potential business customers experience. Identifying these pain points is crucial for businesses to create solutions that meet customer needs. Pain points are typically categorized into financial (cost-related issues), productivity (desire to save time or increase efficiency), process (need for improved internal processes), and support (lack of adequate customer support). Understanding and addressing these pain points is essential for enhancing customer satisfaction and differentiating a business from its competitors.
Digital Marketing Terms: D
Demand Generation
Demand Generation is a marketing strategy aimed at creating long-term awareness and interest in a company’s products or services. It involves activities like content marketing, email campaigns, and SEO to build brand authority and nurture customer relationships over time. Unlike immediate sales-focused lead generation, demand generation develops a sustainable pipeline of potential customers, focusing on educating the market and fostering trust to gradually convert prospects into loyal customers.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is any sort of marketing that occurs via digital avenues such as the internet. The term is often associated with practices such as SEO, CRO, PPC, blogging, web design, content marketing, and a whole array of other forms of online marketing.
Digital Marketing Dashboards
Marketers develop digital marketing dashboards through software options that provide marketers with valuable information regarding their online marketing activities. Digital marketing activities span a vast array of avenues. The dashboards focus on lead generation stats and progress made towards monthly and annual goals.
Digital Marketing Strategies
Digital marketing strategies refer to structure marketing plans. Marketers strategically plan their digital marketing campaigns using digital marketing techniques such as PPC and content marketing. Digital marketing strategies are marketing actions that marketers design in order to better achieve their marketing goals.
Digital Marketing Tactics
Digital marketing tactics refer to digital techniques marketers use to reach their targeted audiences. Marketers employ various techniques, such as developing content & keyword-rich websites, content marketing, and PPC campaigns to build brand awareness and engage with consumers via social media. Digital marketing tactics include SEO, social media marketing, email list management, keyword/competitive analysis, reputation management, and blogging.
Digital Marketing Tools
There are thousands of various digital marketing tools available on the market today. There are tools that help with SEO and others help with interactive online advertisements. Some help with mobile marketing, opt-in emails, and online partnerships such as sponsorships and affiliate marketing. Web analytics are combined with the application of digital marketing tools and are used to track and visualize campaign results, collect data, and inform marketers with valuable information such as online activities, IP addresses, and search keywords. Marketers then use this information to improve their targeting and refine their campaigns.
Direct Traffic
Direct traffic is inbound traffic that occurs when a user directly types your website’s URL into their web browser or navigates to your site via a bookmark. Direct traffic includes traffic that does not find its way to your site via clicking on an ad or CTA, responding to an email, or some other sort of advertisement.
Display Network
A Display Network is a collection of websites and digital platforms where businesses can place advertisements. It allows marketers to place ads in various formats, like banner or video ads, across multiple websites within the network. This tool is critical for brand awareness campaigns and reaching a broad audience, with targeting options based on user behavior, interests, and demographics. Examples include the Google Ads Display Network. Advertisers can control their budgets through cost-per-click or cost-per-impression pricing models, making it accessible for businesses of different sizes.
Dofollow Backlinks
A phrase that denotes the absence of a hyperlink of a “nofollow” tag. Hyperlinks include a “dofollow” tag until a “nofollow” piece of code is attached to the hyperlink. Dofollow tags pass SEO equity to a destination URL. Nofollow tags do not pass along SEO equity.
Digital Marketing Terms: E
Email Automation
A marketing system that uses software to send emails automatically. The system uses defined triggers such as consumer purchases and email submissions to send said emails. Multiple automated emails can be created for use in a sequence. For instance, a marketer can set up their system to automatically send a ‘thank you’ email when a customer purchases a product.
eCommerce
eCommerce is shorthand for “electronic commerce” and incorporates all avenues of online businesses. eCommerce businesses are typically a direct-to-consumer structure.
Email Lists
Marketers develop email lists so that they have a consumer base to whom they can send marketing emails. Email lists are typically grouped by user classification. Classifying the email list allows marketers to focus on a targeted method of communication that’s based on the consumer’s classification.
Engagement Rate
Engagement Rate is a metric in social media and digital marketing that measures how actively users interact with content. It is calculated by dividing the total number of engagements (likes, comments, shares, clicks) by the total audience size (followers or impressions) and is often expressed as a percentage. This rate helps marketers gauge the effectiveness of their content and refine their strategies. For example, if a post receives 100 interactions from 1,000 viewers, the engagement rate is 10%.
Event Marketing
This marketing component involves promoting a brand, product, or service via promotional events. The marketing includes direct interaction of representatives with consumers. Event marketing is considered by most to be an extension of experiential marketing and content marketing. Experiential marketing follows the process of corporate storytelling to grab consumer interest and engage the audience.
Exit Rate
Exit rate is a vital metric used in website traffic analysis. In digital marketing, the exit rate is the percentage of visitors that visit a site and then actively exit from a specific page to visit another website.
Digital Marketing Terms: F
Facebook Ads Manager
A Facebook tool that marketers use to create and optimize Facebook campaigns. Marketers can create, run and target ads via Facebook Ads Manager. The platform also offers the ability to review ad performance, as well as the billing summary, payment history, and payment method information.
Facebook Advertising
The Facebook ad network is where marketers can promote their brand, product, and/or service to consumers within the Facebook community. Facebook offers an array of ad types tailored to the different goals that marketers hope to achieve. Facebook advertising is unique in that it provides accurate targeting due to its vast database of demographics based on user-provided information. This is vastly different from Google and other networks, which rely on keywords.
Facebook Audience Insights
Facebook Audience Insights is a tool that marketers use to target their ideal audience segments. This tool includes aggregate information including demographics, geography, consumer purchase behavior, and a variety of other data points. Facebook Audience Insights provides marketers with a look at trends about their current and potential customer base across the entire Facebook network.
Facebook Business Page
A Facebook business page is a free web page that companies can build on Facebook to expand their internet presence. Like a personal Facebook profile, your Facebook business page can send and receive messages, post updates, get notifications, and like, comment, and share other Facebook users’ and pages’ content.
Facebook Live
Facebook Live is a feature of the Facebook platform that offers live streaming video capabilities to Facebook users. Facebook Live is relatively simple to use – users tap the live stream icon, which then allows live video broadcasting from their smartphone. Users can even enter a description for the event.
Facebook Messenger Bots
Facebook Messenger bots are pieces of software that employ artificial intelligence to communicate with customers. In layman’s terms, the bots understand human language. In most cases, the AI is programmed to recognize words and phrases, which then trigger relevant responses. Automated bots have revolutionized customer service, marketing, and sales for the better since the bots provide consumers with immediate answers.
Featured Snippets
Featured snippets are brief excerpts from a webpage that appear at the top of Google’s search results in order to quickly answer a user’s question. Featured snippet content is automatically pulled from pages that have been indexed by Google. The most common forms of featured snippets are definitions, lists, steps, and tables.
Funnels
Funnels typically come in a five-stage variety. The five stages typically include exposure, discovery, consideration, conversion, and retention.
- Exposure frequently takes the shape of SEO, content marketing, display ads, PPC, and developing some sort of following or community.
- Discovery occurs when consumers find a brand.
- Consideration is when consumers begin to consider purchasing a product/service.
- Conversion occurs when the prospect becomes a customer.
- Finally, retention occurs after the sale is finalized and the business works tirelessly to retain the loyalty of their hard-earned customer.
In theory, the completion of a successful marketing funnel results in customer loyalty and repeat sales.
Digital Marketing Terms: G
Google Ads
Google Ads allow marketers to reach consumers through the Google search results and their display network. Marketers bid on keywords and keyword phrases. The service provides marketers with various strategies to reach their marketing goals. These strategies include bidding on keywords so that their display ads appear on the Google search results pages or on Google’s network of partner websites.
Google Algorithm
Google’s algorithm is a mathematical system that helps Google determine which websites to show on the SERPs. The algorithm is also known as the “core” algorithm. Google updates the algorithm 500-600 times every year, which comes out to roughly two updates per day. Website positions can vary from day to day based on each individual algorithm update. The algorithm is kept under lock and key so that webmasters and marketers cannot manipulate the system in order to climb the SERPs. Google does however provide guidelines on how to rank higher on the SERPs.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a software platform that provides marketers with a plethora of data and deep insights into nearly every aspect of their website. This treasure trove of data includes website traffic, user metrics, conversions, historical data comparisons, and the effectiveness of each marketing channel.
Google My Business
Google My Business is a component of the Google platform that allows marketers to create a landing page of sorts for their business. Marketers can add information to their business page that helps the page rank on the SERPs. The company name and information – a website link, hours of operation, and reviews – are also managed via the Google platform. Google My Business is an ideal tool for local SEO campaigns since the company appears in the Google SERPs when the company name is entered into the browser.
Google RankBrain
Google RankBrain is a machine learning algorithm used by Google to help improve search engine results. It helps Google understand and interpret the meaning of complex and ambiguous search queries, ensuring that users get more relevant search results. RankBrain uses artificial intelligence to analyze and process search queries and learn from user interactions to refine its understanding and ranking of web pages. It’s one of the many factors Google uses to determine the order in which websites are displayed in search results.
Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a free tool that Google provides to webmasters. The tool includes various elements for marketers to analyze data and determine how their site is performing. Search Console is different from Analytics due to the fact that it doesn’t measure traffic. The console provides information regarding a site’s visibility on the SERPs and the overall indexability of the site for Google crawler bots.
Digital Marketing Terms: H
Hashtags
Hashtags are the “#” symbol that you see all over social media. Their primary purpose is to help users find the content they’re looking for easily.
Heatmap
A heatmap (or heat map) is a data visualization technique that shows the magnitude of a phenomenon as color in two dimensions. The variation in color may be by hue or intensity, giving obvious visual cues to the reader about how the phenomenon is clustered or varies over space.
HTML
HTML is the abbreviation for hypertext markup language. HTML code helps a web browser know how to display a webpage. Individual lines of code within HTML is are called tags or elements. HTML typically includes a starting and ending tag or element for markups.
HTTP
The abbreviation for hypertext transfer protocol. The internet uses a protocol to define how data is formatted and transmitted. HTTP also provides knowledge to web servers and browsers of necessary actions for command response. When a website is interested in a browser and a user clicks the “search” button, the HTTP command is sent to the server. This command tells the server to locate the site and send the data directly to the URL or site on behalf of the user.
HTTPS
An extension of HTTP. It is used for secure communication over a network and is the current standard on the internet. In HTTPS, the communication protocol is encrypted using Transport Layer Security (TLS) or, formally, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). The protocol is therefore also referred to as HTTP over TLS or HTTP over SSL.
Hreflang Tag
Hreflang tag is a website’s HTML code that provides search engines with the spoken language of the page. For sites with pages in multiple languages, Hreflang tags are particularly helpful. Hreflang tags help Google place and display pages to specific audiences depending on the user’s default language.
Hyperlink
HTML code that creates a link from one webpage to another webpage. The HTML code typically includes a highlighted word or image that takes the user directly to the specified location when a user clicks on the highlighted text or image.
Digital Marketing Terms: I
Impressions
A term used in the realm of Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising. The term “impression” represents the number of times a PPC ad is displayed to users.
Impression Share
The percentage of impressions that your ads receive compared to the total number of impressions that your ads could get. The equation is simple (impressions)/(total eligible impressions).
Influencer Marketing
A form of social media marketing that involves endorsements and product placements from influencers. These influencers have established a reputation for having an expert level of knowledge or social influence in their field.
Instagram Advertising
The paid channel of advertising on the Instagram platform. Advertisers pay to have their content displayed to non-followers. Marketers can reach more significant and targeted audiences. With Instagram advertising, marketers use images or videos with text to attract user clicks.
Instagram Stories
A video or picture on the Instagram platform that a user adds to their profile. Instagram displays the post with a colorful ring around the user’s profile picture and users can tap it to read the story. Once tapped, the picture appears in a row at the top of the followers’ feeds and can be tapped again to view/read the story.
Instagram TV
An Instagram feature that allows users to share and view videos. Instagram TV is similar to Instagram Stories but is different in that the content can be far longer. With Instagram TV, you can upload up to an hour of content and the content will not disappear after 24 hours.
Digital Marketing Terms: J
Javascript
Javascript is a scripting language used within web browsers for interactive effects that are either difficult or impossible to achieve with standard CSS or HTML. You can employ Javascript for APIs, games, scrolling abilities, and much more. Javascript can bring websites to life and provide an exceptional user experience.
Digital Marketing Terms: K
Keywords
A word or phrase marketers use in content and SEO marketing. Google and other search engines recognize keywords in search browsers and SEO content. For example, a user types in a keyword to complete a search. Google then recognizes the keyword and scans the web for content related to the user’s keyword. Marketers who focus on SEO are recognized in search engines through their keywords and keyphrases.
Keyword Density
The number of times (or percentage) a keyword appears on a webpage compared to the total word count.
Keyword Phrases
A group of two or more words that lets search engines know what the general idea of a post or page is and helps determine where it will rank on the SERPs. For instance, a web user wants information on “digital marketing,” so they enter “digital marketing” into their web browser. The results that the search engine spews out are based on the keyword phrase the user entered – “digital marketing.” Keyword phrases provide users and marketers with the means to string together words with the ultimate aim of finding answers to their questions.
Keyword Research
Keyword research is the practice of optimizing content by researching alternative terms and phrases users might search when looking for information online. Marketers research keywords relevant to their topic and use their findings to rank higher on the SERPs. Once a marketer identifies an effective niche keyword or keyword phrase, they will typically expand upon their findings to find additional relevant keywords and phrases.
Keyword Stuffing
Keyword stuffing is an SEO tactic that is highly frowned upon by the digital marketing community since it is an attempt to manipulate search engines. Google and other search engines typically penalize marketers who engage in this practice.
Knowledge Gap
This concept refers to a hypothesis that knowledge, like other forms of wealth, is not always evenly distributed across a social system. In the most simple sense, sectors of society, such as the middle and upper classes, will have more general knowledge than members of the lower class. The “gap” is the difference in knowledge or lack thereof.
Digital Marketing Terms: L
Landing Page
A landing page is a destination to which a link takes a user. Marketers use landing pages to direct the flow of traffic throughout their website and for lead generation too.
Landing Page Optimization
The process of improving elements on a website to increase conversions. Landing pages are an essential element of digital marketing. They are designed to provide information, generate sales, and potentially capture leads.
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI)
LSI is a method of search engine indexing that links words and phrases to develop a better understanding of the content’s subject matter. LSI provides search engines with the ability to provide better results to user queries.
Leads
Leads are potential customers who enter into a sales funnel. Consumers become leads when they have expressed an interest in a business’s products and/or services. Through communicating their interest in a business’s product and/or service, it is assumed that there is an intent to purchase. Communication can come in the form of a phone call, completion of an online form, or responding to an email.
Lead Nurturing
Lead nurturing is the practice of guiding potential customers down through a sales funnel with the ultimate aim of getting them to convert into customers.
Link Juice
Link Juice is the authority or value a webpage can pass to another through hyperlinks. When a reputable site links to another, it can boost the linked page’s search engine ranking. The quality and relevance of linking sites matter, with high-authority sources carrying more weight. Properly managing links is crucial for SEO success.
Link Profile
A link profile is the cumulative grouping of backlinks directed to a website. A link profile is used to determine different aspects of a website, such as its authority. Link profiles can also be used to organize and structure the subject matter and content on a website. Search engines, such as Google, use link profiles to help determine where a site should rank in the search results.
It is important that a link profile consists of valid links since it can have an impact on off-page SEO rankings. For instance, if a webmaster has a high number of inbound links from other sites that are not trusted, contain adult content, or are just spammy in general, the link profile will not have the necessary strength for Google to consider the site as reputable.
Live Streaming
Live streaming is the craft of producing real-time, live video broadcasts to an internet-based audience. You need an internet-enabled video device, such as a desktop computer or laptop with a webcam, and a broadcasting platform like Vimeo or IBM Video.
Local SEO
Local SEO is similar to normal SEO since the ultimate goal is to increase the online visibility of a website in the organic search results. Marketers employ local SEO to market their business at the local level. In other words, local SEO is designed to help businesses promote their products and services to their local customer base.
Long-Form Content
Long-form content is detailed written material, usually over 1,200 words, that explores topics in greater depth. It’s effective in digital marketing, journalism, and blogs for its comprehensive insights and thorough analysis, which engage readers and establish the author’s authority. This content type is beneficial for SEO, as it naturally incorporates a range of relevant keywords, encourages longer reading times, and enhances backlink opportunities. Long-form content is also shareable on social media, making it a valuable tool for content marketing and audience engagement.
Lookalike Audiences
Lookalike audiences are an option for marketers to target audiences via the Facebook advertising platform. Marketers provide an email list or their Facebook following to serve as their initial audience base. Facebook then identifies common characteristics from the initial audience base and then displays the marketer’s ads to similar users.
Long-Tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords are keyword phrases that are longer in length and yield more specific results that match a user’s search query. A long-tail keyword doesn’t yield as many clicks as shorter keywords or keyword phrases. However, they typically attract users with higher search intent. For marketers, long-tail keywords are powerful because there is often less competition for the exact phrase.
Digital Marketing Terms: M
Map Packs
A section on Google search results pages that features three local businesses. The map pack is displayed when a search query for a local intent – e.g. “near me” – or general business search is performed.
Marketing Plan
A marketing plan refers to a structured digital marketing promotional plan. The plan is typically strategic in nature and used to promote a brand, its products, and its services. Digital technologies are often employed to promote to the marketer’s ideal audience in order to hit their ideal conversion rates.
Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)
A marketing qualified lead refers to a consumer or business that exhibits the characteristics and criteria that identifies them as a possible sale. MQLs show interest in the marketer’s brand, product, or service. Leads can express their interest by obtaining information on the marketer’s website, or any one of a number of other methods. Marketers score leads using a metric to determine the quality of the lead and where the consumer is in the buying cycle.
Meta Descriptions
Meta descriptions are meta tags that provide a page description in 160 characters or less. A meta description is a critical webpage element since it is what appears in Google search results as well as the results of other search engines.
Meta Tags
Meta tags are HTML snippets that are tacked onto a web page’s code. These snippets are designed to help web crawlers and search engines better understand the purpose of a webpage. Metadata is used by search engines to help identify relevant information from a webpage in order to rank it correctly on search result pages. Meta tags include various bits of page information such as the publication date, the author, the tile of the page or post, and image descriptions.
Metrics
Metrics refer to a marketer’s or marketing team’s use of value to measure and track the success of a marketing campaign. Marketers use various tools to track the results of their campaigns. Data-driven digital marketing metrics include web traffic sources, cost per lead, brand awareness, returning visitors, website traffic leads, online conversion rates, customer lifetime value, and click-thru rates.
Mobile Advertising
Mobile advertising is the communication of products/services to mobile devices and smartphone consumers. This includes everything from SMS to interactive advertisements. This method of digital marketing targets mobile users according to specific demographics. Mobile advertisements can take the form of banner ads, long text ads, audio ads, video ads, tagline ads, interactive video, TV ads, etc.
Mobile-First Index
Mobile-first indexing is how Google ranks mobile content for indexing and ranking. With mobile-first indexing, Google typically uses the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking a site. In the past, the index primarily used the desktop version of a page’s content when scoring the relevance of a page to a user’s query. However, the majority of users today access Google via their mobile devices, so the index primarily crawls and indexes mobile versions of a website’s content.
Meta Keywords
Meta keywords are the specific type of meta tag that appears in a webpage HTML code. The meta keywords are designed to help search engines understand the topic/purpose of a webpage. Meta keywords appear in the source code of a page and are not visible to website visitors.
Mobile Page Optimization
Mobile Page Optimization enhances a website’s performance on mobile devices, focusing on responsive design, fast loading speeds, and a touch-friendly interface. This process is crucial for user experience and Search Engine Optimization (SEO), as it involves making content easily readable and ensuring mobile and desktop content parity. Effective optimization can lead to better engagement, lower bounce rates, and improved search rankings.
Digital Marketing Terms: N
Niche Marketing
Niche marketing is a concentrated type of marketing. It is a strategic method of marketing that targets specific and distinct audiences. The goal of niche marketing is to target smaller segments of the online population in hopes of achieving better marketing results. With niche marketing, marketers identify the needs, wants, and requirements of a group of consumers to target said segment strategically.
Nofollow Links
Nofollow links are a value that can be assigned to the rel attribute of an HTLM link that communicates with web crawlers and search engines. A nofollow link informs web crawlers and search engines that a link is not entitled to SEO equity. In simple terms, the hyperlink should not influence the rankings of the site., Google guidelines state that any link that is not natural, such as a paid press release or a duplicate site, should have a nofollow tag.
Digital Marketing Terms: O
Onpage SEO
Onpage SEO is the practice of optimizing individual web pages to rank higher in the search engine results. Ranking higher typically results in generating more inbound traffic. ON page SEO refers to the content and HTML source code of a page that marketers can optimize for to rank higher on the search engine result pages.
Organic Search Traffic
Organic search traffic is website traffic that results from non-paid search engine results. Google and other search engines use various factors to rank websites on their SERPs – one such factor is most definitely organic SEO. Organic SEO includes content marketing, blogging, press releases, reviews, social media, and backlinks.
Digital Marketing Terms: P
Page Authority
The score search engines place on webpages. It’s used as a metric to indicate a page’s likelihood of ranking in search results. Think of Page Authority as a grade for how much search engines trust and value a specific page on the internet. The score is calculated based on various factors, such as the quantity and quality of links pointing to that page.
Page Speed
Page speed consists of a Google family of tools designed to help enhance website performance. The primary four components of page speed are Page Speed Module, Page Speed Insights, Page Speed Service, and the Page Speed Chrome DevTools extension. Each of the tools is tailored to identify any issues in a site’s compliance with Google’s best practices and to automate the necessary adjustments.
Paid Advertising
Paid advertising is an online advertising model where advertisers bid to participate in real-time auctions in order to show their ads within slots on a specific platform or network.
Pay Per Click (PPC)
Pay per Click is a model of internet marketing in which advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. Essentially, it’s a way of buying visits to your site, rather than attempting to “earn” those visits organically.
Penalty
A penalty is a punishment issued to webmasters for breaking Google guidelines. Webmasters are notified of any penalties via Search Console. Penalties can be as serious as removal from search engine results. Google requires that webmasters fix the issue(s) before the penalty is lifted. Once the penalty is lifted, there is no guarantee that the site will return to its previous place in the search results.
A penalty can also refer to an algorithmic penalty. An algorithmic penalty is a misnomer because the site might be performing poorly due to an issue discovered by Googles’s algorithm. An algorithm penalty is actually considered a ranking problem, not a Google penalty.
Position
Position refers to the placement of a website on Google’s search results. The position is where a site is located on the search results page for a specific query.
Featured Snippet
When Google pulls informative content from a webpage to feature it on its search pages. Featured snippets are summarized information related to a query.
First Page
When a site ranks on the first page of Google’s search results. This is where you want your content to rank since 75% of users never click past the first page of results.
Map Pack
A map knowledge pack that includes the first three local business results for a query.
Private Blog Network (PBN)
Also known as a link network, a PBN is a collection of private websites that link to one another. PBNs are not an approved Google SEO tactic (aka Black Hat SEO), as the networks are built to manipulate search engines by adding links to a website’s link profile.
Product-Led SEO
Product-led SEO is a strategy where a company’s product is the main focus for driving organic search traffic and improving search rankings. This approach integrates SEO into the product experience, emphasizing features and usability that align with what potential customers are searching for. It involves keyword integration within the product’s interface, user-focused design, content strategy highlighting product benefits, and technical SEO for web presence optimization. Effective for SaaS and digital products, this strategy attracts high-intent users, builds brand authority, and increases conversion rates.
Proposal
A digital marketing proposal refers to any information about a brand, product, or service that a business provides to potential customers. The purpose of a proposal is to provide specific information, such as pricing, associated with products and/or services that a prospect has expressed interest in. Proposals typically lead up to a sale. Marketers will draft a proposal typically including the deal’s expiration date and the specifics surrounding the potential sale.
Digital Marketing Terms: Q
Quality Score
Quality Score is a diagnostic tool that shows how well your ad quality compares to other advertisers. This score is measured on a scale from 1-10 and is available at the keyword level. A higher Quality Score means that your ad and landing page are more relevant and useful to someone searching for your keyword versus other advertisers.
Queries
The word, phrase, or group of words users type into a search engine search box. Search queries can be misspelled, in the wrong order, or match a keyword to a tee. They are actual terms that people use to find information, products, services, and more on the internet through organic or paid results. Think of what you typed into the search box that brought you to this page. That was a search query.
Digital Marketing Terms: R
Rankings
Rankings are the general term associated with the position of a website on the SERPs. SEO and site quality impact how a website ranks. A ranking is specific to a keyword or keyphrase, so a marketer can have a website with keywords that rank on the first page of the SERPs and some that don’t. A site’s ranking can increase and decrease for different queries and search terms with time.
Reciprocal Links
Links between two sites that have been created link to each other because they cover similar topics or provide complementary goods or services. The owners of the sites may find that it helps to link to each other for their visitors’ benefit.
Referral Traffic
Referral traffic describes the people who come to your domain from other sites without searching for you on Google. When someone visits a link from a social network or website and ends up on another site, tracking systems from Google recognize the visitor as a referral.
Remarketing
Remarketing, also known as retargeting, is a very common and popular form of digital marketing in which marketers serve ads to users who have visited their website or a specific web page and who have or have not taken a specific action. It’s an effective way to target people who have already shown some interest in your business or brand.
Because you are targeting past visitors or existing customers, it’s called “re”-marketing. Think of it as a second chance to convert, up-sell, or retain customers with online ads or campaigns. You can do remarketing in different ways and with different ad platforms, like Outbrain, Google ads, or Facebook ads.
Reports
A report refers to a document used by marketers to track essential metrics for campaign insight. Reports help marketers measure the strengths and weaknesses of their campaigns. Marketers can include their goals and the efforts used to reach their marketing goals in their reports. Reports can include an array of data, including the overall % change in total marketing reach and % difference in direct site traffic.
Charts and graphs are also used to show trends and frame data within a proper context. Leads by source, page views, marketing reach, etc. can all be tracked and visualized via reports. Marketers can also analyze their campaigns and break down their data into silos, such as SEO, social media, PPC, and email marketing campaigns.
Responsive Web Design
Responsive web design (RWD) is a web development approach that creates dynamic changes to the appearance of a website, depending on the screen size and orientation of the device being used to view it. RWD is one approach to the problem of designing for the multitude of devices available to customers, ranging from tiny phones to huge desktop monitors.
Retargeting
Retargeting is a digital marketing strategy that identifies when a user has visited your online store. Once a user visits, they’ll see targeted ads for your products and services displayed on different websites and social sites, enticing them to visit your store again.
Return On Investment (ROI)
Return on Investment is a popular metric because of its versatility and simplicity. Essentially, ROI can be used as a rudimentary gauge of an investment’s profitability. This could be the ROI on a stock investment, the ROI a company expects on expanding a factory, or the ROI generated in a real estate transaction.
Return on investment (ROI) is calculated by dividing the profit earned on an investment by the cost of that investment. For instance, an investment with a profit of $100 and a cost of $100 would have an ROI of 1, or 100% when expressed as a percentage.
Robots.txt
A robots.txt file tells search engine crawlers which URLs the crawler can access on your site. This is used mainly to avoid overloading your site with requests; it is not a mechanism for keeping a web page out of Google.
Digital Marketing Terms: S
Sales Accepted Lead (SAL)
A Sales Accepted Lead is a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) that has been reviewed and passed on to the sales team. It means an opportunity has been approved by the sales team as worthy of pursuing. After becoming a SAL, the sales process begins.
Sales Cycle
A Sales Cycle is a set of specific actions salespeople follow to close a new customer. Sales cycles are often confused with sales methodologies — frameworks for implementing sales cycles. The sales cycle is more tactical, and often includes stages such as ‘prospect,’ ‘connect,’ ‘research,’ ‘present,’ and ‘close.’
Schema Markup
Schema markup, also known as structured data, is the language of search engines, using a unique semantic vocabulary. It is code used to more clearly provide information to search engines in order to understand your content. In turn, this helps provide users with better, more accurate information in the rich snippets that are displayed beneath the page title.
Search Engine Algorithm
A search engine algorithm is a complex algorithm used by search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing to determine a web page’s significance.
Search Engines
A search engine is a software program that helps people find the information they are looking for online using keywords or phrases. Search engines are able to return results quickly—even with millions of websites online—by scanning the Internet continuously and indexing every page they find.
When a user enters a search term, the search engine looks at the website page titles, contents, and keywords it has indexed and uses algorithms (step-by-step operations) to produce a list of sites—with the most relevant websites at the top of the list.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Search engine marketing is the practice of marketing a business using paid advertisements that appear on search engine results pages (or SERPs). Advertisers bid on keywords that users of services such as Google and Bing might enter when looking for certain products or services, which gives the advertiser the opportunity for their ads to appear alongside results for those search queries.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) improves your site’s visibility when people search for products or services related to your business in Google, Bing, and other search engines. The better your pages’ visibility in search results, the more likely you are to garner attention and attract prospective and existing customers to your business.
Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
Search engine results pages are web pages served to users when they search for something online using a search engine, such as Google. The user enters their search query (often using specific terms and phrases known as keywords), upon which the search engine presents them with a SERP.
Search Network
A Search Network is a group of search-related websites where your ads and free product listings can appear. When you advertise on a Search Network, your ad can show next to search results, on other Google sites like Maps, Shopping, Google Images, and on the websites of Google search partners.
Search Operator
Search Operators are commands that help you filter and refine search engine results.
Search Queries
A search query or search term is the actual word or string of words that a search engine user types into the search box. You can think of a search query as the real-world application of a keyword – it may be misspelled, out of order, or have other words tacked on to it, or conversely it might be identical to the keyword.
Segmentation
Segmentation is a marketing tactic used to separate consumers into smaller groups based on a variety of themes and characteristics. Said characteristics are based on shared characteristics such as past purchases, active requests for additional information, common interests, lifestyles, etc. Dividing consumers into segments allows marketers to better focus on high yield groups that are more likely to purchase.
Session
A session is a group of user interactions with your website that take place within a given time frame.
Session Recording
Session recordings are renderings of real actions taken by visitors as they browse a website. Recordings capture mouse movement, clicks, taps, and scrolling across multiple pages on desktop and mobile devices.
Skyscraper Technique
The Skyscraper Technique is a link-building strategy where you find high-ranking content with tons of backlinks, capitalize on its weaknesses, and develop a much better piece of content.
Social Media Traffic
Social traffic refers to traffic coming to your website, mobile site, or mobile app from social networks and social media platforms. For example, a person who clicks on a tweet or a Facebook post and then arrives on your brand’s website will be counted in your digital analytics reports as social traffic.
Slide Decks
A Slide Deck is a term assigned to a group of slides that together form a complete presentation. A slide deck is usually created using a presentation design application. A slide deck is often used as an aid for storytelling or presenting information about a topic or an organization.
Social Media Marketing Strategy
A social media marketing strategy is a plan for using platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to achieve business goals. It involves setting objectives, targeting specific audiences, creating content, and measuring success through metrics. It’s about connecting with your audience, building brand awareness, and driving results on social media.
Digital Marketing Terms: T
Target Audience
A target audience is a group of people defined by certain demographics and behavior. Often, businesses use what they know about their target audience to create user personas. These personas guide their decisions on marketing campaigns.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO refers to improving a website’s technical aspects to increase its pages’ ranking in the search engines. Making a website faster, easier to crawl, and understandable for search engines are the pillars of technical optimization. Technical SEO is part of on-page SEO, which focuses on improving elements on your website to get higher rankings. It’s the opposite of off-page SEO, which is about generating exposure for a website through other channels.
Top Of Funnel Marketing
Top of Funnel Marketing is a strategy that aligns with the earliest “awareness” stage of the buyer’s journey. Marketing activities early in the funnel build brand awareness and trust over time through educational content that helps early-stage buyers understand their problem that needs to be solved.
Tracking Codes
A tracking code is a snippet of JavaScript code that tracks the activity of a website user by collecting data and sending it to the analytics module. The code is generated automatically, is different for each website, and has to be installed on each page you want to track.
Time On Page
The time-on-page for a web page is calculated by the time difference between the point when a person lands on the page and when they move on to the next one. Clicking a link to go to another page in the website is the trigger that causes the time spent on the earlier page to be calculated.
Title Tag
A title tag is an HTML element that specifies the title of a web page. A page’s title tag is displayed as part of the search snippet in a search engine results page (SERP). It appears as the clickable headline for the search result and is important for user experience, SEO, and social sharing.
Digital Marketing Terms: U
User Interface (UI)
A user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur.
Unique Value Proposition
A Unique Value Proposition is a clear statement that describes the benefit of your offer, how you solve your customer’s needs and what distinguishes you from the competition. Your unique value proposition should appear prominently on your landing page and in every marketing campaign.
Unique Visitors
A unique visitor is a term used in marketing analytics that refers to a person who has visited the website at least once and is counted only once in the reporting time period. So if the user visits the web more than once, it counts as one visitor only.
UTM Tracking Code
A UTM Tracking Code is a snippet of text added to the end of a URL to help you track where website traffic comes from if users click a link to this URL.
User Experience (UX)
User experience (UX) design is the process design teams use to create products that provide meaningful and relevant experiences to users. This involves the design of the entire process of acquiring and integrating the product, including aspects of branding, design, usability, and function.
Digital Marketing Terms: V
Visits
Visits, or sessions, is a metric used to measure the total number of times a user navigates to a website. Visits are an important digital marketing metric that is used in tandem with conversion rate to gauge the performance of an online store.
Digital Marketing Terms: W
Webinars
A webinar (a combination of the words “web” and “seminar”) is a video workshop, lecture, or presentation hosted online using webinar software. Often business-related, these sessions can be used to share knowledge, ideas, and updates with people around the world. Webinars can also be leveraged to build and nurture relationships, build authority around a brand, or demonstrate a product.
Website Analytics
Web analytics is the measurement and analysis of data to inform an understanding of user behavior across web pages. Analytics platforms measure activity and behavior on a website, for example: how many users visit, how long they stay, how many pages they visit, which pages they visit, and whether they arrive by following a link or not. Businesses use web analytics platforms to measure and benchmark site performance and to look at key performance indicators that drive their business, such as purchase conversion rate.
White Hat Marketing
White Hat Marketing is the body of approved search engine optimization tactics designed to increase a website’s position on a search engine results page (SERP). Search engine results that appear as a result of approved methods, rather than payment or trickery, are referred to as organic search results.
White Papers
A White Paper is an informational document usually issued by a company or not-for-profit organization to promote or highlight the features of a solution, product, or service that it offers or plans to offer. White papers are also used as a method of presenting government policies and legislation and gauging public reaction.
Wireframe
A wireframe is a layout of a web page that demonstrates what interface elements will exist on key pages. It is a critical part of the interaction design process.
Digital Marketing Terms: X
Extensible Markup Language (XML)
XML (Extensible Markup Language) is used to describe data. The XML standard is a flexible way to create information formats and electronically share structured data via the public internet, as well as via corporate networks. XML is a markup language based on Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) used for defining markup languages. XML’s primary function is to create formats for data that is used to encode information for documentation, database records, transactions and many other types of data. XML data may be used for creating different content types that are generated by building dissimilar types of content – including web, print and mobile content – that are based on the XML data.
XML Sitemap
An XML sitemap is a file that lists a website’s important pages, making sure Google can find and crawl them all. It also helps search engines understand your website structure. You want Google to crawl every essential page of your website. But sometimes, pages end up without any internal links pointing to them, making them hard to find. A sitemap can help speed up content discovery.
